Volver

Impressions before seeing it
I had seen a couple of Almodovar films before and found his work interesting, and I knew Penelope Cruz got an Oscar nomination for this performance, so I was looking forward to it.

How was it?
The first thing to notice about Volver (and probably all of Almodovar's works) is the colours. Everything looks vibrant and pleasant, even when the movie turns unpleasant. The second thing to notice is the loud kissing noises whenever the actresses kissed each other on the cheeks. I just found it funny and even a little bit annoying that they seemed to make a point of doing these exaggerated face kisses every time they greeted each other. I mean I don't really come from a culture where cheek kissing is custom, but I have never seen anyone do it that way except when a parent or relative is being affectionate with their kid.

Anyway, Volver is another classic murder cover-up movie, with some feminism and family relationships thrown in. I kind of like those movies because the characters have to struggle to hide their crime, and usually it snowballs and gets worse and worse. In this case Almodovar took it in a different direction. There was one accidental murder, they covered it up and moved on, and no one felt the consequences. The police didn't even come looking for Paco, the victim. It's unrealistic, sure, but I think that perhaps it represents an ideal situation, because Paco was a douche who tried to rape his own stepdaughter, and it wouldn't be fair to bring punishment on a girl who was almost raped.

Recommendation
There is a kind of soap opera feel sometimes, especially toward the end. Penelope does turn in some great work (although no one else in the movie was that good so maybe they just made her look better), and the film feels like an Almodovar film for anyone who is a fan, so overall I really enjoyed it.